Most Spanish airports are operated by AENA (Aeropuertos Espanoles y Navegación Aérea), the national operating company.  As soon as you arrive at the airport you become subject to the rules governing relations between members of the public and government bodies.  The basic rules are set out in Law 30 of 1992 which establishes the general principal of civil liability of state bodies to members of the public.   However, Law 4 of 1999 sets out exceptions to this principal.  AENA will not be responsible for loss or damage which is not reasonably foreseeable or which is beyond the ability of current technology to prevent. 

Let’s follow your passage through the airport at the start of a typical journey.   As you enter the terminal building should you have the misfortune to suffer an injury due to a defect in the building or some failing in maintenance by AENA, you have the right to claim against them, and have one year in which to make your claim.   It is vital to report your claim as soon as the incident has occurred and to get details of any witnesses who actually see the incident.    

If you are checking in baggage, as soon as the airline clerk checks  it in, the airline becomes responsible for it but only up to a maximum value expressed as 1,000 “Special Drawing Rights” set by the Montreal Convention of 2004 which governs the responsibility of airlines’ flying between the majority of countries.  A “Special Drawing Right” is an abstract value set by the International Monetary Fund which varies from day to day.  As at 15^th June 2009 one Special Drawing Right was worth €1.108, so the maximum amount you could claim from the airline if they lose or damage your baggage is currently about €1,100.00   If you have particularly valuable items in your baggage the airline may give you the opportunity to declare a higher value but they can charge you a premium for this facility.  On the other hand they may refuse to carry especially valuable articles preferring you to take them as hand baggage at your own risk.

You´ve checked in and you go through the security check.  As you put your hand baggage and personal belongings on the conveyor belt to go through the scanner, AENA becomes responsible for these items until you retrieve them on the other side of the scanner, but they are not liable for any damage to sensitive items such as film, or electronic items which may be caused by the scanner, due to the exception from liability contained in Law 4 of 1999. 

However, if the staff mishandle or drop your property or it is physically damaged by the conveyor belt,  AENA is liable, but only if you report the damage immediately, and again get details of any witnesses.  In a judgment given by the Administrative Court of Madrid on 13 May 2005 the Court held that state and public bodies were not a “universal insurer” and could not be responsible in for damage in these circumstances unless it was reported at the time it occurred and there were independent witnesses.

Your flight is called and after queuing up at the departure gate, the attendant checks your boarding pass and you either walk down the ‘jet way´ into your plane, walk across the tarmac, or get on a bus to board the plane via the steps.  From the moment you pass through the boarding gate you become the responsibility of your airline.   Any claim for an injury you may suffer from this point until you enter the terminal building at your destination has to be made to your airline and is subject to complex rules laid down in the Montreal Convention of 2004.

During your flight you are responsible for your hand baggage and personal belongings, unless they are damaged by the aircraft crew, or by some defect in the plane itself such as fluid leaking from the aircraft’s own systems, or say, the collapse of a luggage rack or the failure of a locker door which had previously been properly closed.

After, hopefully an uneventful flight, you will arrive at your destination and become subject to the rules that govern the operation of the airport at your destination.  If you are reclaiming baggage which you checked in on departure and find that it is lost, or that your case is damaged, or items in your baggage have been stolen or damaged you must report it immediately and get a written report both as confirmation of the loss or damage from the airline and for a claim against your own insurance, if you have any, but remember that your airline’s liability is limited to no more than 1000 “Special Drawing Rights”, unless you have declared a higher value when you checked in.

If you are travelling by air this summer have an enjoyable and safe journey and do take out sufficient travel insurance.